Prizefight: iPad Mini vs. Nexus 7

What's up prizefight fans?
I'm Brian Tong and the 7-inch tablet category remains one of the hottest right now.
So, we're facing 2 primetime powerhouses.
It's a prizefight punch out between Apple's iPad mini and Google's Nexus 7. Our judges for this fight just one.
It's sing, sing a Tong.
I'll score each contestant on its own merits round by round.
The final prizefight score will be an average of all rounds within the nearest tenth of a point.
Hold on to your butts.
Round 1 is the design.
The iPad mini brings Apple's unmatched design with an all metal body takes cues from Apple's iPad touchline.
It's comfortable and light to hold with that 7.9-inch display, that's larger in size.
But its biggest drawback is that 1024 x 768 resolution that looks alright, but it's just isn't a retina display.
Now Google's Nexus 7 is still one of the best looking 7-inch tablet designs we've seen today.
It's beveled edges with grippy, perforated backing, feels more comfortable to hold compared to the mini and it's 7-inch screen tops with a higher 1280 x 800 resolution.
That's visually sharper.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I'm calling this a tie at 4.5 point apiece.
Next round is controls and user interface.
The iPad mini brings iOS 6. That's snappy and intuitive
and it's still the easiest pick up and play interface on planet earth.
The home bond has multiple functions to access current apps and a few basic settings or you can tap it for Siri.
Even it gets the job done, iOS 6 hasn't evolved enough and I want more beyond the notifications pull down.
Now, the Nexus 7 brings Android's Jelly Bean and it's a legit OS that can stand on its own.
It's super clean and snappy while bringing Android's staple customization with widgets that are resizable and a duct for yours apps
that lets you also drag icons on top of each other to create folders.
Notifications are still here when you swipe from the center, but swiping from the top right now brings you quick access to your key set.
This comes down the preference, but Google takes this round with a 4.5 and the iPad mini gets a 4. So after averaging 2 rounds, the Nexus 7 leads, next round is features.
Both tablets bring Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and front-facing cameras,
but you won't find any memory expansion slots here.
The Nexus 7 comes with 16 or 32-gig storage and an NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor.
It steps up its feature set with Jelly Bean's Google now, which delivers relevant information like weather, public transit, and nearby businesses based on how you use it.
Google's voice search and commands are second to none and it's faster and more accurate plus its maps are more reliable right now and it includes Google's Street View and public transit options.
Now, Android Bean lets you exchange data with 2 nearby devices when you tap them together and its Google Play Store may not be on quite the same level with apps, but it's still a legitimate offering.
Plus, Jelly Bean 4.2 is coming to the Nexus 7. It will be bringing gesture typing to trace over your words instead of typing them out and multiple user accounts on just one tablet.
Now, the iPad mini comes in 16, 32, and 64 gig flavors,
but disappoints with an older A5 dual-core processor that lags behind their other product lines.
It brings its own voice search with Siri that has a prettier interface when you're looking for sports stores or restaurants, but it's just not as accurate and its response time lag significantly behind Googles.
Apple brings their own turn-by-turn directions with their maps app and it does the job for some people, but we know about its issues and it still has a long way to go before it regains my confidence.
You can also view the content that's on your iPad mini to a television set
that's connected with an Apple TV if you live in the Apple ecosystem and it's really Apple's ecosystem.
That might be its greatest asset here with unique apps and games that make the iPad more than just a tablet.
The Nexus 7 still shines here and takes this round 5 at 3.5.
Next round is web browsing and multimedia.
Google Nexus 7 brings one of the best mobile browsing experiences even without flash support with its Chrome browser that brings features like an incognito mode for private browsing.
The iPad mini brings Safari, which is just a sole of browser with a snappy pinching zoom and brings features like cloud syncing bookmarks on other devices and a clean reader mode.
Video quality looked great on both devices, but I give the Nexus 7 just a little edge when it came to Netflix and YouTube streaming with its higher resolution screen.
Now, Apple's iTunes store also gets an edge here because of its exclusive content deals, but Google Play still has a robust library of its own media content.
Both tablets have front-facing cameras, but Apple differentiates itself here with a 5-megapixel rear camera that also shoots 1080p video mode and a panorama mode that works really well compared the third-party apps and it continues to push the taking pictures in public with an iPad movement.
The iPad takes this round with a perfect 5 and the Nexus 7 gets a 4. So for averaging 4 rounds, the Nexus 7 still leads by 2 tenths of point.
Round 5 is performance.
Both of these tablets feel fast and snappy to navigate even if their processors are different.
In our video playback battery drain test, the Nexus 7 gave us just over 10 hours of video playback compared to the iPad mini that championed at over 12 hours and that's the best battery life out of any of the 7-inch tablets on the market today.
The iPad mini gets a 5 and the Nexus 7 gets a 4. So for averaging 5 rounds, were tied.
The final round that decides at all is the value.
The Nexus 7 16-gig model starts at $199.
The iPad mini 16-gig model starts at $329.
Now, you could even purchase a Nexus 7 with 32 gigs and mobile data connectivity for cheaper than a base model iPad mini and this is really one of the first times where Apple's pricing seems to really be out of touch especially without a retina display or core processor inside of the mini.
The Nexus 7 takes this round with a 4.5 and the iPad mini gets a 3.
So let's average out all 6 rounds and in a battle where the Nexus jumps on top early, but the iPad mini fought back to even it up.
It was the price that made the biggest difference and the Nexus 7 takes this battle 4.4 with a 4.2, and defends its title as your prizefight winner.
I'm Brian Tong.
Thanks for watching.
I will catch you guys next week for another prizefight.